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Customs is massively intermittent quality at present, but delays are also added to by all the variables of different handling companies / couriers etc. Amazon Prime has set our expectations too high ! My other half imports and exports a lot of products for her business, and frequently contacts various providers to understand what delays are going on. Air freight and land logistics are better than they were late last year / earlier this year, but still held up by a lot of red-tape nationally and internationally. Best bet is to wait an extra week or so, and ensure you get tracked & signed postage on whatever you buy. Difficult with SuperSkoda/Kopacek (not sure if it is / was an option?) - but hang in there, it'll be worth the wait. #NewCarPartsDay 🎇🎆✨

It used to be between 2-4 weeks depending on size, multiple items etc. I think current Customs controls may delay that, so extra patience may be required. Last items I ordered from them were the Monte Carlo black emblems & hub inserts; all arrived within about 21 days of ordering, but that was over 18 months ago pre-pandemic & Brexit issues.

@estragosStarting with the resonator delete is the good option if you're not sure about adding an aftermarket system and is typically reversible (which is very handy if it's a 'work car'!). A friend had it done on his Golf 7R and sounded significantly better afterwards; although the R has a bigger turbo and downpipe than the VRS, so sound would be different to VRS with the IS20 turbo and OEM downpipe. One thing I'd be wary of is exhaust 'drone', which can be a side effect of exhaust modifications vs. the Octavia's significant lack of soundproofing. As the OEM resonator does a good job of reducing this drone, just be aware that you may get a lot more which can be bloody annoying at motorway speeds if you're not expecting it. I should know - I went non-resonated on my Scorpion system when it was first fitted, and spent 3 months with dodgy hearing until I got the Scorpion resonator put in 😅

@Mounty- I don't have experience with the DTUK box, but I did have my pre-FL 230 (2016) tuned by Racingline (previously 'Shark') for what they'd now call their "OEM+" map (Stage 1, although I've got the hardware for Stage 2). It drastically improved the car's response, power etc - mainly the torque delivery, which IMHO is more important for daily-driving than outright BHP bragging figures. In your case, I'd seriously think about the efficiencies you'd gain from a second hand box vs. just going new. For the small monetary gain of a second hand box, you'd effectively lose guaranteed DTUK support and have no assurances that the second hand box will work flawlessly on your motor. At the risk of potential damage and/or reliability issues, I'd personally go new and have that peace-of-mind that you've got the support where needed. If you're set on investing a bit of money on a car which responds very well to optimising power on the OEM platform, you may as well do it properly 😊 (á la - "Buy nice, or buy twice" mantra). Edit: Just re-read your point about voiding warranty; in which case, I think you'd still better go 'New' so you've got access to the expertise of the software/hardware developers and who have experience of 'removable' accessories when it comes to not prematurely voiding the warranty 👍

Everything else is worthwhile, as I've done the same on mine (with the exception of buying the stupidly expensive Carbonio / APR carbon fibre induction kit). However, I've yet to see or hear any tangible improvements with the muffler delete other than a very clever way of making one's wallet considerably lighter . You can still get decent 'whoosh' from an aftermarket filter like the R600 👍

Hi @Noms- I do have one and it is really useful. I store a lot of my every-day carry (EDC) kit in there like car first aid kit, tow rope, detailing cloths / bird poo wipes etc, and a few other non-specific items. I tend to carry a fair bit in the side compartments (shown in your picture), including spare oil & coolant as well as Autoglym car stuff in it's little bag on the right hand side. I don't have a garage, so what I can store in the car stays in the car! My only 2 gripes were a) the price (agreed, £64 is steep...), and b) the fact that - on my installation at least - it didn't seem fully secure. The kit comes with some additional pins / fixings which you need to put in place to create spring tension which keeps it in place. Regarding point b), I - stupidly - ordered it and got it delivered right before I had to leave for holiday last year, so fitted it in a rush and didn't fix those additional parts in. I've since man-bodged it using duct tape on each of the ridges that slot in either side of the boot, and secured it with bungie hooks linked to the in-boot fixing points. Whilst that sounds horrific, it doesn't look bad but more importantly it does the job (and doesn't slide around at all). I'd only really go for it if it's definitely going to be used more than just a 'Nice-to-Have', otherwise fit in a boot net and/or use a secured crate in one corner to do the same job.

Sorry for short reply, was on a work call and multitasking is hard for my small brain! Yeah - as I said, for the Rieger rear diffuser, I only had to remove the bolts rather than the whole rear bumper. I've since removed the diffuser to repaint it 'black'-black after I got rear-ended a year or so ago, and it's a pretty simple process.

In my experience, I just had to unscrew the bolts 😅

And that's numberwang!! 😃 Apologies, I get mixed up with the numbers. I meant I always have run premium fuels in the remapped car (and previously in my n/a Fiesta ST). Good to know other information, learning lots.

Since going Stage 1+, I've always run it on 99ron fuel - either BP Ultimate or Shell V-Power, the latter mainly as they're common as muck round my way. Never experienced any flat spots in torque delivery whatsoever when using it, and have always been running Shell V-Power when doing dyno runs to confirm this (the last one being down in Portsmouth with the Brisky lot at JKM Performance - where we all had slightly dodgy outputs with winter fuels). However, re:@varaderoguy I appreciate that others have had different experiences or not been so lucky - but it's the first I've heard Shell being called out specifically, hence my query. For cars with stock ECUs and components, I'd argue 95ron is fine. For tuned cars - clearly if you care about the vehicle - then (if you have the luxury) spend the extra cash on decent fuel... if anything for peace-of-mind, rather than performance.

I use Shell V-Power all the time and haven't had any noticeable issues with my Stage 1 Racingline/Shark tune... Where's that information from, I'm interested? (don't have a Tesco nearby, so if I were to switch it would need to be due to a documented reason) 😅

I've such respect for this comment 😅 I haven't had a chance to get out and take a photo, but essentially I sandwiched small, layered amounts of duct tape between the sliding surfaces on the sides and at the top of the height adjuster. You could also use things like 'ring sizing tape' (which can be a faff to cut to size, but is thicker and provides a silicon damping effect). I'm pretty sure the noise comes from it moving in a lateral direction, rather than vertical (as it can happen on idle, especially with a billet lower engine mount).

I personally have the intermittent issue which is the seat belt tensioner (height adjuster) next to my right ear. It took me ages to locate, as it can often feel like it's coming from the left 😅 - but might also be a-another source of rattling. Mine's currently on the highest / 'tallest' setting, but it must drop a millimetre to rattle. I can set it to the lower level, but it's less comfortable on that setting (although it did partially sort out the rattle). I've also damped it using the best engineering competency, a bodge using little bit of (unnoticeable) duct tape which seems to have worked.

I'd go for the Pro-Kit, based on your additional info above. Then make sure it's sorted out with a Hunter alignment afterwards 😊👍 Job's a good'un. The Pro-Kit height difference really won't be too noticeable (literally a difference of about 10mm, 15mm max), certainly less than standard. I've had mine fitted for 3/4 years' ownership, and haven't looked back. As @encephalopathysays, upgrading ARBs is good at reducing body roll further down the line - but sounds like you'll want to check out springs first. I went rear ARB only (from APR), since the OEM front ARB is sufficient for me and too stiff a setup can increase understeer. Let us know what you decide and do, would be interested to see if the recommendations make a positive change!

I've got the Eibach Pro Kit on my 230 hatch, which I took over the Sportline due to needing a ~30mm drop but retain some pliancy. The Sportline set, I'm led to believe, pretty much matches the H&R springs in terms of dynamic feel & slightly less 'felt' stiffness; whereas the Pro Kit adds more control and composure to the OEM ride, without impacting comfort (or NVH) too much - since the ride height isn't as reduced as the sportline ( ~10mm less drop), and being between 30-35mm overall. I would say that the OEM ride is pretty lax with a great deal of roll and pitch (mainly due to fairly weedy rear anti-roll bars), and one might be dissuaded from going back to 'standard' springs. Any decent aftermarket springs is an immediate improvement to ride and handling anyway. It's difficult to gauge the difference between both sets, especially if you were to use your friend's Golf GTI as an example - since even though it's the same MQB platform, it's still a very different car in terms of handling dynamics to the Octy. I'd highly recommend Eibach as quality suspension upgrade and it'll depend what you want out of the car which will help decide between Pro Kit or Sportline. I've driven around Cork a few times over 2017 and 2018 (somewhat spiritedly in a hire car...), so I have a feeling of what some of the roads are like. The roads around me are pretty crap (as well as having a lot of mountainous speed humps) so I felt a compromise on drop height vs. pliancy was required - hence the Pro Kit. In the meantime and semi-related, but have you taken the car to get a decent wheel alignment to check there's no issues with setup?

FYI, be aware that Reiger are no longer shipping to the UK (at present)... so you may need to wait a little longer until there's either an alternative or they find a way past the current import/export madness.

No wukkas. If you've any issues, send them an email query as a friend had some questions about his side-skirts / rear diffuser for his Golf R and the were great 😊 Best of luck, am sure you'll love the outcome once it's fitted.

I bought mine directly from Germany 3 years ago to avoid potential EBay fakery or other faff, and experienced no issues at all with service or delivery. For example, here you can get 10% off by ordering directly from them. Just make sure you're careful about the version (model year & estate/hatch), colour, and whether you need the towbar 'flap' or not 👍

APR do the muffler delete (among others), although from my experience - checking out an Audi TT and Golf GTI both with the delete applied whilst having my car worked on at QS Tuning - the difference is almost unnoticeable. Certainly not worth the £150 price tag (+ labour). Cone filters in and of themselves don't add the level of induction noise you'd expect of a naturally aspirated car (obv 😊), so you'll be focused on increasing turbo spool noise. The MY2019 cars are near-silent anyway, so you may have to spend a bit of cash to get it to be noisier unfortunately. You'd be better off investing in an induction kit like the R600 or equivalents, with the silicone intake pipe. Google "Skoda Octavia VRS 245 induction kit" for ideas - plenty from Revo, APR, RacingLine etc. Performance benefits are typically psychological, rather than tangible, but if you're after smiles rather than 'mad gainz' then it's well worth it. Just don't go down the route Younger Ads did, and buy a full carbon fibre APR induction kit like an absolute n0b 😅. It's awesome, but it was stupid expensive compared to the R600 etc.

Do you know if the EA888 2.0L TSI has this? And what criticality could the damage be in this case? Would be good to know if the general advice I'm giving out is good or detrimental, so I can adapt accordingly 👍

Leaving in a gear opposite to direction of travel increases the resistance within the gearbox and means that the engine should stop the wheels turning (i.e. preventing it from rolling down a hill). If you are pointing downhill and leave it in 1st, if the handbrake fails (and the car is not steered into the kerb), the car will roll down the hill at a rate which 1st gear will allow it - i.e. slow. If left in 2nd, would go faster due to less resistance, 3rd etc etc. It's one of those #ManualCarTraits that you either follow religiously, or don't care about 😊. But having always lived on hills, I've seen many a handbrake fail and what can occur because of it. Easiest to just do a little bit of due care and attention that takes maybe 4-5 seconds more per stop and have peace of mind.

Really good to hear 👍 like I said, after a while you get used to it (although mine has more NVH as standard due to the setup). Have you felt any benefits in terms of slicker-feeling gear changes? That was one of the first things I noticed, as well as holding the car in a lower gear whilst accelerating feels like it's 'taught'. I am sure it will have pretty much eliminated all wheel-hop too.

Not sure if this is still dependent on manual vs. e-handbrakes (and the differences between them) - but in my experience, good practice continues to be to steer into / away from the kerb for pointing downhill / uphill respectively. And leave in-gear (opposite direction of travel) in a manual car. Just in case the handbrake decides to fail, as has was more common in the early (2014-16) MkIII Octavias. I know to many this is 'teaching to suck eggs', but the amount of times I've had to explain it to different people it's always worth adding - just in case it helps someone. Small 'muscle-memory' type thing to do, but can mitigate biiiig headaches down the line

On my 2016 EA888 2.0 petrol engine, the sump was plastic. I actually got this replaced with a steel one due to anxieties about splitting one open on the massive speed humps round where I live. Would be interesting to investigate the MOT observations more closely / get a photo for clarity of what they're on about.

Depends what you're looking to achieve, and how long you're looking to run it, which should decide your budget and therefore the right supplier. If you don't mind reliability or want a 1-on-1 relationship with the remap provider, you could go cheaper/ non-mainstream. And it might be 100% issue-free the entire life of the car - or it might be problematic. Otherwise, the big brands like Revo / APR / Racingline etc do good mapping for higher costs - but have proven reliability and quality models, due to the international standards required of them. They are also more consistent with aftercare and updates / support, as needed.